It has heretofore been realized that speech recognition circuitry coupled with a computer can be used to great advantage in a wide variety of tasks. Typically, the interface between a computer and a human operator has been a mechanical keyboard. A keyboard interface has a number of disadvantages including slow speed, expense, the need for training for the operator and the limitations that the operators hands are fully occupied and cannot be used for other purposes.
Despite the apparent advantages of speech recognition as an interface between human operators and a computer only limited success has been achieved to date. Numerous obstacles must be overcome before a successful speech recognition system can be implemented at a reasonable cost. A number of problems in designing such a system include the variability of speech from one person to another, the need to produce an accurate template representing each speech unit and the need for a high speed computer having rapidly accessible mass memory to handle the size of vocabulary needed for a useful application.
There exists a need for speech recognition apparatus which is capable of producing speech templates that are essentially independent of the speaker.